


Mr. Jones

by ccshbh



Category: Riverdale - Fandom
Genre: Betty Cooper - Freeform, F/M, Married!Bughead, Teacher!Jughead, amazing wife!Betty, and disenfranchised teenager, includes Jughead with the flu, jughead jones - Freeform, teacher!Betty
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-17
Updated: 2019-11-17
Packaged: 2021-02-08 03:20:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,087
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21469219
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ccshbh/pseuds/ccshbh
Summary: Jughead has a class to teach and a 38 degree fever. Betty is nothing but a helpful wife.Too many documentaries about the German school system and @oryoucouldstay are to blame for this one.
Relationships: Betty Cooper/Jughead Jones
Comments: 25
Kudos: 169





	Mr. Jones

„But Betts, I can’t stay home.”

Betty looks down on her husband, who is perched on the edge of their bed, trying his best to suppress the cough that is threating to make its way up his throat. He looks like death, his ever present eyebags even darker than usual, his nose red and his hair in disarray. Nevertheless, he insists on going into work. During Spring Break.

“Juggie, you have a 38-degree fever, you can’t go teach a hord of teenagers like that.”

Jughead frowns at her. “The are not a hord. And they are only a few weeks away from their final exams. I promised I’d help them with the prep. I can’t just…”

He is interrupted by a massive coughing fit that makes him sink back onto the bed.

“I can’t just not show up.” he croaks, staring at the ceiling.

Betty sighs. She knows how much this means to him, knows that he cares a lot about his students, that they remind him of himself. A lot of the kids at the school he is teaching at live in the same environment he’s grown up in and although in the end, he’d gotten his happy ending, he still has this urge to make it better for other people as well.

And usually, she admires that. But she is not letting him walk into a classroom with the worst case of the flu she’d seen in years, get himself even more sick and possibly infect some of his students.

“Juggie.” she sits down on the bed next to him and runs a hand through his hair. “What good will it do them when you show up sick?”

He exhales slowly and turns his gaze from the ceiling towards her. “You are right. Of course, you are. I just feel horrible for letting them down Betts. They’ve been so motivated to get through with this, to earn themselves a decent chance at college and outside that shithole of a neighborhood they grew up in.”

“I know, I know.” Betty sighs. She thinks for a moment, then she gently adds: “You know… I’m a teacher too. I mean I teach Social Studies and not English and I know the kids at your school need some special attention but…”

Jughead sits up so rapidly that it makes her wince and she nearly falls off the bed. He freezes for a second and groans. “Okay, sitting up fast, is a shitty idea right now.”

He turns towards her slowly. “You would really do that? You’d go into class for me and teach them, although it is your well-deserved Spring Break?”

She smiles at him and takes his hand in hers. “Of course, I would. I know how important this is to you. You are right, these kids deserve a fair chance, and if I can help to provide that, well it is my pleasure.”

“You know, if I weren’t a walking virus right now, I’d definitely be kissing you senseless.”

Betty laughs and gently pushes him back onto their bed. “Try to get some sleep. When I come back, I’ll promise I’ll nurse you back to health with my famous chicken soup, so you’ll be back teaching them in no time.”

“You are an angel, you know that?”

She grins and winks at him over her shoulder. “I know. That is why you married me.”

…

When she enters the classroom an hour later, all the kids are staring at her. Most of them seem surprised, but some look downright suspicious. Their looks make her feel like she is back to being 16 and trying to get the Serpents to accept her. But if she had succeeded with getting Sweet Pea on her side, she is confident she can teach these kids for a week. She is also a trained Guidance Counselor after all.

One of the boys that looks the most suspicious, narrows his eyes at her and crosses his arms.

“You are not Mr. J.” he states loudly and sounds belligerent.

“Nope, I’m Harley Quinn.” Betty answers.

He clearly wasn’t prepared for that, because his body language changes almost instantly.

“What?” he asks, eyebrows raised in confusion.

Some of the other students start to giggle and a girl in the first row, with combat boots and vibrant blue hair rolls her eyes at him. She reminds Betty so much of Toni, that she nearly starts to laugh herself.

“It’s a joke Pablo. She is Mr. Jones’ wife.”

Pablo scrunches his eyebrows together. “I still don’t get it.”

“Oh my god.” the girls lets out an exasperated sigh and throws her head back. “The Joker and Harley Quinn? DC Comics? Most of the people addressing the Joker call him Mister J.?”

Understanding dawns on Pablo’s face and he drops into his chair, clapping his palm onto his forehead.

“Oh right.” he looks up at Betty again, more approving this time. “Good one Mrs. J.”

“What’s wrong with Mr. Jones though?” another, taller boy with a bright red bandana wrapped around his head asks.

“He’s got the flu.” Betty answers truthfully.

Another girl that up until now had seemed more interested in her perfectly manicured nails, then in what happened in front of the classroom lifts her head. “When will he be back?”

“With a little luck next week.”

Half of the class looks at her with expressions that look a lot like shock.

“A whole week?” the girl with the blue hair asks. “We are going to lose a whole week of prep?”

“No, you are not. That is why I’m here. He felt horrible for letting you guys down, so I’m his substitute for the week.”

Some of the kids seem suspicious again, but none of them says anything in protest, so Betty takes a deep breath and starts talking about Toni Morrison.

…

Betty knew that Jughead was trying his best with these kids, that he was trying to gradually make an impact on them. But it takes her almost the full week, to understand how much he’d already succeeded in that.

After they are done with class on the second day, Pablo lingers behind in the room, slowly turning a thermos in his hands. He hesitantly steps towards Betty who is wiping the board in the front and clears his throat.

She turns around to face him. The boy shifts from one foot to the other and looks up at her.

“I… uhm…” he holds the thermos up to Betty and she can see him blush a little. “I wondered if you could give that to Mr. J. It’s uhm… my mom she makes amazing _sopa de pollo_ and well, it always got me back on my feet. I figured… maybe it helps him too.”

“Thats really thoughtful of you.” Betty smiles, honestly touched by his gesture. “Thank you, Pablo. I’m sure Jug… Mr. Jones will love your mom’s soup.”

Pablo beams at her. “I figured it was only fair. Mr. J. is the reason I learned any decent English after we came from El Salvador three years ago. This is the least I can do.”

And with that he is out the door.

…

And suddenly it seems like Pablo’s gesture opened a flood door.

After the third day of class, Ava, the girl with the vibrant blue hair and Aria, the one with the perfectly manicured nails, show up with a batch of colorful cupcakes that read “Get well soon, Mr. J.” and make Betty’s mouth water, from just looking at them.

“Girls, these look amazing.” she exclaims, and the two look down at the floor bashfully.

“We thought about writing Mr. Jones first name on them, but it felt weird.” Aria says and looks up shyly at Betty.

“Actually.” Ava starts and then pauses as if what she is going to say next takes a lot of effort. “Can I ask you something about Mr. Jones name?”

Betty bites her lip to suppress a laugh. If she had a dollar for every time she had to answer a question like that.

“Sure, shoot.”

“Is his name really Jughead? Because that seems just weird.”

This time Betty can’t hold back the small chuckle escaping her lips. “No, it’s a nickname, but the real name is worse.”

“Really?” the girls seem curious now. “What is it?”

Betty laughs again. “I can’t tell you. He made me promise to not tell anyone when we got married. Had to sign a contract and all.”

The girls break into laugher and leave the room.

…

By the end of the week, every single one of the kids has brought in something for Jughead. From books they found at home and thought he might enjoy, to more food and cards that read everything from: “Get well soon Mr. Jones.” to “We miss you, although your wife is pretty cool too.”

The true highlight though is the letter. Its Ryan, the boy with the bright red bandana that hands it to her on Friday.

“We uhm... we all wrote this for Mr. Jones, thought it might cheer him up.” he says and saunters to the back of the classroom.

…

When Betty gets home that evening, Jughead is back up on his feet and digging through the cupboards in the kitchen.

“So, you are feeling better?” she asks, and her husband turns around on the spot, half a Pop Tart hanging from the corner of his mouth. He swallows and then gives her that bright and easy smile she knows only she gets to see.

“Loads.” he answers and crosses the kitchen to kiss her. “How was the last day?”

“Great! They gave me this for you.” Betty says and holds out the letter to him.

He takes it curiously and opens it. His eyes flicker over the three pages that are tugged inside and when he looks up at her again, he swears she can see him blink back tears.

“What is it?” she asks. He doesn’t say anything, just holds the letter out to her. She takes it carefully and starts to read:

_Dear Mr. J.,_

_We were actually planning on telling you all of this by the end of the year, but we figured, that we might as well tell you now, because maybe it helps you to get rid of the flu sooner. Well, first of all we wanted to say thank you for sending your wife in and not letting us down. She is pretty cool and (enter a few crude comments some of the guys and Ava made, and I’m refusing to write down). But it also means a lot to us that prep didn’t just get cancelled for this week._

_To get to the actual point, we have so many things we want to thank you for, and we thought a letter might be the best way to do that. So, uhm… here we go, I guess:_

_Thank you for teaching me proper English and making me feel like I belonged somewhere. – Pablo._

_Thank you for not laughing when I handed in my essay about my mom leaving and coming to me to talk about your own story. I will never be able to put into words how much that meant to me. – Ava._

_Thank you for introducing me to Toni Morrison (I suppose thank you to Mrs. Jones too, because you said she introduced you to her) and Harry Potter. Whenever shit goes down at home now, I can flee into these books a little while. – Aria._

_Thank you for making me understand, that even a kid from the wrong side of the tracks with ties to a gang can make it out and find his happy ending. Thank you for not giving up on me. – Ryan._

The list goes on for another two pages and when Betty looks up at Jughead again, she can feel tears starting to well up in her own eyes.

Its not like she is surprised by anything the kids are saying. She’s known all of that for a long time now. She’s known that Jughead is caring, generous, empathetic and passionate about the things and people he loves. But to see it now recognized by these kids that are just like he was, makes her heart swell with so many emotions and so much pride that she can barely take it.

They smile at each other until Jughead lets out a watery laugh. “Looks like I had an impact on them after all.”

“Yes.” she breaths. “Yes you had”


End file.
